Gran Paradiso: Erkenntnisse aus der sich natürlich regulierenden Steinbockpopulation|Gran Paradiso: Conclusions from the naturally regulated Capricorn population

2007 ◽  
Vol 158 (11) ◽  
pp. 349-352
Author(s):  
Grégory Amos ◽  
Ambroise Marchand ◽  
Anja Schneiter ◽  
Annina Sorg

The last Capricorns (Capra ibex ibex) in the Alps survived during the nineteenth century in the Aosta valley thanks to the royal hunting reservation (today Gran Paradiso national park). Capricorns from this reservation were successfully re-introduced in Switzerland after its Capricorn population had disappeared. Currently in Switzerland there are 13200 Capricorns. Every year 1000 are hunted in order to prevent a large variation and overaging of their population and the damage of pasture. In contrast, in the Gran Paradiso national park the game population regulates itself naturally for over eighty years. There are large fluctuations in the Capricorn population (2600–5000) which are most likely due to the climate, amount of snow, population density and to the interactions of these factors. The long-term surveys in the Gran Paradiso national park and the investigations of the capacity of this area are a valuable example for the optimal management of the ibexes in Switzerland.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacopo Cerri ◽  
Elena Martinelli ◽  
Sandro Bertolino

ABSTRACTApproaching large ungulates at protected areas is dangerous both for visitors and the animals. Nudging interventions can mitigate this issue, but conservationists need to be sure about which factors influence the acceptability of human-wildlife encounters, to design them.In summer 2018, we recruited a sample of visitors (n = 205) at the Gran Paradiso National Park (Italy). They evaluated the acceptability of 9 digitally modified pictures, depicting a group of visitors observing an alpine ibex (Capra ibex) close to a trail. Pictures were characterized in terms of group size and distance from the ibex.Observing ibexes was deemed to be acceptable if visitors were further than 25 meters from animals and when groups included less than 3 people. Approaching ibexes at 5 meters was always deemed to be unacceptable. Potential for Conflict Index (PCI) was constant across distance classes and it was generally low.Our findings indicate that visitors share normative beliefs about the optimal distance and group size, that should characterize encounters with large ungulates, when visiting the park. These normative beliefs are crystallized, because previous encounters with ibexes did not affect the evaluation of each scenario and because the PCI was constant and low. We believe that behavioral interventions aimed at promoting respectful and safe human-ibex interactions can be enforced in areas where this interaction is critical, mostly in form of panels on hiking trails introducing normative pressures on visitors and motivating them to comply with rules.


Data ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Poussin ◽  
Yaniss Guigoz ◽  
Elisa Palazzi ◽  
Silvia Terzago ◽  
Bruno Chatenoux ◽  
...  

Mountainous regions are particularly vulnerable to climate change, and the impacts are already extensive and observable, the implications of which go far beyond mountain boundaries and the environmental sectors. Monitoring and understanding climate and environmental changes in mountain regions is, therefore, needed. One of the key variables to study is snow cover, since it represents an essential driver of many ecological, hydrological and socioeconomic processes in mountains. As remotely sensed data can contribute to filling the gap of sparse in-situ stations in high-altitude environments, a methodology for snow cover detection through time series analyses using Landsat satellite observations stored in an Open Data Cube is described in this paper, and applied to a case study on the Gran Paradiso National Park, in the western Italian Alps. In particular, this study presents a proof of concept of the preliminary version of the snow observation from space algorithm applied to Landsat data stored in the Swiss Data Cube. Implemented in an Earth Observation Data Cube environment, the algorithm can process a large amount of remote sensing data ready for analysis and can compile all Landsat series since 1984 into one single multi-sensor dataset. Temporal filtering methodology and multi-sensors analysis allows one to considerably reduce the uncertainty in the estimation of snow cover area using high-resolution sensors. The study highlights that, despite this methodology, the lack of available cloud-free images still represents a big issue for snow cover mapping from satellite data. Though accurate mapping of snow extent below cloud cover with optical sensors still represents a challenge, spatial and temporal filtering techniques and radar imagery for future time series analyses will likely allow one to reduce the current cloud cover issue.


2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Parrini ◽  
Stefano Grignolio ◽  
Siriano Luccarini ◽  
Bruno Bassano ◽  
Marco Apollonio

Author(s):  
Aelita Pinter

Multiannual fluctuations ("cycles") in population density of small rodents doubtless result from the interaction of a multitude of factors, as evidenced by the variety of hypotheses proposed to explain the phenomenon (for reviews see Finerty 1980, Taitt and Krebs 1985). However, the inability of these hypotheses - alone or in combination - to explain the causality of cycles rests in no small measure with the fact that long-term studies of the phenomenon are notoriously uncommon. The objectives of this project are to continue a long-term study of the population dynamics of the montane vole, Microtus montanus, in Grand Teton National Park. On the basis of earlier observations (Pinter 1986, 1988) particular emphasis will be placed on how environmental variables, possibly acting through reproductive responses, contribute to the population density cycles of these rodents.


Author(s):  
Aelita Pinter

A variety of hypotheses have been proposed to explain multiannual fluctuations in population density ("cycles") of small rodents (for reviews see Finerty 1980, Taitt and Krebs 1985). Doubtless, such cycles - known since antiquity (Elton 1942) - result from an interaction of a multitude of factors. However, the inability of extant hypotheses, alone or in combination, to explain the causality of cycles rests in no small measure with the fact that long-term studies of the phenomenon are notoriously uncommon. The objectives of this project are to continue the long-term study of population dynamics of the montane vole, Microtus montanus, in Grand Teton National Park. Earlier observations (Pinter 1986, 1988) indicate that environmental variables might contribute to the population density cycles of these rodents, possibly by influencing their growth and various aspects of their reproduction.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Wilson ◽  
Anthony Massaro ◽  
Emily Wroblewski ◽  
Deus Mjungu ◽  
Emily Boehm ◽  
...  

Abstract Male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) defend group territories and sometimes kill members of rival communities — a pattern often compared to human warfare1-3. Male chimpanzees also sometimes kill grown males from their own community4-9. Such within-community killings are puzzling, as they reduce the coalition strength needed to win inter-community contests5,10. Here we examine the contexts of within-community killing using data from two neighboring communities at Gombe National Park, Tanzania, as well as published data from other long-term chimpanzee study sites. At Gombe, more killing occurred within the smaller Mitumba community, where fertile females were more monopolizable. Attackers increased their share of mating and paternity following known and inferred killings. Other factors proposed to explain such killings, including the degree of intercommunity threat, male-biased sex ratios, high population density, or generalized aggression, did not explain the high rates of killing in Mitumba. Comparing across study sites, the best predictor of within-community killing was an index of the degree to which fertile females can be monopolized by the highest ranking male11. Our findings therefore support the hypothesis that within-community killing is a strategy to eliminate reproductive rivals that is more likely to pay off when fertile females are more easily monopolized.


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